Worldview Intelligencehttps://worldviewintelligence.com
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3232Be Afraid. But Not For the Reasons You Might Thinkhttps://worldviewintelligence.com/afraid-not-reasons-might-think/
Tue, 20 Feb 2018 05:08:31 +0000http://worldviewintelligence.com/?p=568Be afraid. Be very afraid. But not for the reasons you might think. We are living in precipitous times. We are in danger of losing our humanity through fear. Fear of what and who we do not know. I am writing this in the Charles de Gaulle airport as I wait for my flight home

]]>Be afraid. Be very afraid. But not for the reasons you might think. We are living in precipitous times. We are in danger of losing our humanity through fear. Fear of what and who we do not know.

I am writing this in the Charles de Gaulle airport as I wait for my flight home to Canada. My partner, Jerry Nagel, and I have been visiting Paris and Rennes in France. Teaching international students at IGR is what brought us here – this year and in the past – for Jerry many years, for me more recently.

Last year we came to France about two months after the Charlie Hebdo attack. We did not see a discernible difference in the city. A year later, four months after the co-ordinated attacks on public places in Paris, we are seeing differences. There are fewer people in the cafés, fewer people walking the streets and more taxis than we could count at every taxi stand we passed. Last year we often had to wait if we were looking for a cab. And, while we were here, the attack in Brussels at the airport and the Metro.

We know some tourists are staying home. We had friends who wanted to come on this trip with us but decided to stay home after the November attacks, understandably, because of a prior experience of being stuck in Mexico after the attack on the Twin Towers in New York back in 2001 when air travel to/from the US was stopped for an unknown and indefinite time. We cannot imagine how much more terrifying it would have been for them to have been here with us in this time. And we know they are not the only ones who are staying home.

Les Deux Magots – a favourite eating and people watching place – not far from the hotel we normally stay at.

We know Parisians are staying home too. A city known for its outdoor culture, its fabulous cafés and its walkability, we have seen fewer Parisians strolling in the streets. The cafés we love to go to are either easy to get in – like Les Deux Magotswhere we have often had to hover to find a seat in the past – or closed, like Café Conti, a long standing local business.

Eiffel Tower and surrounding Paris neighbourhoods. A very walkable city.

People are staying home – whether in Paris or from abroad – because they are afraid. Afraid of terrorism. Afraid of immigrants and refugees. Afraid of Muslims. Afraid of vague threats that have no substance and lots of rhetoric behind them. Afraid of what they do not know.

This is in direct contrast to the students we were working with in Rennes who came from a dozen or more different countries, among them China, Korea, Vietnam, Ecuador, Congo, Germany, the US, France, Croatia, Slovenia, Columbia and more. The International MBA students have been together since September. The International Exchange students only since January. Jerry and I teach Participatory Leadership practices and Worldview Intelligence. We invite them to meet each other in ways they have not yet done so.

The Worldview exploration offers them a way to see and articulate their own worldview and then to be in conversation with others, to be curious about their worldview. For the students, one of the biggest insights was that across countries and cultures, there were many points of connection. And within countries and cultures there can be vast differences; so much so that you cannot ascribe one worldview to an entire country or culture.

International MBA and Exchange students at IGR University in Rennes, France – exploring worldviews and what gives them strength in a World Cafe.

We brought all the students together in a planned World Café the morning after the Brussels bombing. We asked them, when they look around at all that is happening in the world, what gives them strength? Then we asked them, if they could change one thing in the world, what would it be? And then, given the conversations they’ve been in, given what they have been experiencing and what they know about the world, how do they want to live their lives?

The harvest was inspiring. These students between 20 and 30 years old, want to live a life where they meet their neighbours – near and far, where they learn the stories of other people, where they take care with the assumptions they make about individuals, groups or cultures they do not know, where they continue to travel to expand their worldviews, and make connections in many ways, to better the world and better their own lives.

With the real and perceived threats we are faced with in the world right now, the most dangerous thing we can do is hunker down in fear, isolate ourselves or our thinking in our home bases and imagine all kinds of frightening stories about people we do not know, people who are different than us.

We may be in danger of forgetting our humanity. We forget that people fleeing war torn countries are human beings afraid for their lives and their families, with nowhere to go and no homes for their children to live in right now. They don’t want to be on the move. They have no choice. And they have been dying by the thousands in their attempts to flee that which is untenable. Are there terrorists among them? Maybe. But not likely. Will we condemn whole groups of people to living in no-man’s lands of refugee camps because there may be a terrorist among them? We already know segregating people does not work. The story of the US Japanese internment camps in the second world war is just one example.

And Muslims? We forget about the Crusades and so many other wars and acts of terror carried out in the name of Christian religion. Were/are all Christians the same? No. Why would we brand millions of people based on the actions of a few? Because of unfounded fear.

Think about this for a moment. When we say Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, American, French, German, Indian, African, Australian, Brazilian, Asian, Columbian, Mexican, Canadian (insert some other country/nationality here), what immediately comes to mind? Whatever it is, it is a small slice of the worldview of that country, that religion, that culture. We work with labels because this is what we know but the information labels give us is extremely limited.

The shortest distance between two people is a story. Worldview Intelligence provides a structured approach to surfacing and sharing stories, to expanding our understanding that we are multi-dimensional beings, cultures, countries and religions. We need these explorations now more than ever.

Do not hunker down right now. Do not isolate yourself. Do not be swept away by unsubstantiated rhetoric designed to make you even more fearful. Be wary of your assumptions, especially the ones that take you to fear. Do not brand one country, culture, religion or group with a single news story, a single glimpse into a world you might not know. Be prepared to ask, investigate, explore – even if you are doing it from the relative safety of your own home. For sure, keep your friends and family close and, if you are up to it, travel to as many places as you can to understand it is our diversity that keeps us strong and shows us our humanity. It is only in remembering our humanity and the humanity of others, that we will become safer in the world.

]]>Amygdala Hijacks and Triggershttps://worldviewintelligence.com/amygdala-hijacks-triggers/
Tue, 20 Feb 2018 05:07:17 +0000http://worldviewintelligence.com/?p=565Not too long ago I was in a planning meeting in Fargo, ND with my partner Jerry Nagel and two of our colleagues from Folkways. After the meeting I was headed to the airport to catch the first of my three flights to take me home to Halifax, NS. While still in the meeting I get a text and glancing

]]>Not too long ago I was in a planning meeting in Fargo, ND with my partner Jerry Nagel and two of our colleagues from Folkways. After the meeting I was headed to the airport to catch the first of my three flights to take me home to Halifax, NS. While still in the meeting I get a text and glancing at my phone, I read, “Your flight is now departing….”

Instantaneously, my heart rate accelerated into a whole new speed zone and my body started to shake as shock washed over me. I was in an immediate amygdala hijack. Then the hypothalamus began to kick in and my rational brain slowly woke up. The whole text message read, “Your flight is now departing at (a new time).” Even with a continued racing heart, I realized that the airline does not send text messages to you as your flight is about to depart. Typically from Fargo I am on an 11:00 am or a 1:00 pm flight. This day it was a 1:00 pm flight but the text came in around 11:00. In that moment of confusion, I thought I must have gotten my departure time mixed up – even though that is something I typically check, double check and triple check. And my brain panicked wondering how such a thing could have happened and what it was going to mean to my whole travel day – and none of this was conscious thought – it happened in a nano-second.

As messages are routed through the brain, the amygdala does an immediate threat assessment and, if a threat is perceived, blocks the routing to the slower thinking brain to ensure an immediate response: what is often referred to as the fight/flight/freeze response. While invaluable during the time we lived in caves and threats meant life and death, this response no longer serves most of us most of the time. Yet, we still experience it and we experience it often.

Not only is it sparked by the kind of situation described above, it is also sparked when you are triggered by a person, situation or event. Something happens, someone does something and you are triggered into a response where the rational brain is not functioning because your body has been flooded with cortisol (nicknamed the stress hormone) and a host of other chemical and hormonal changes that are not helpful or healthy in the long run (as in your immune system and anti-aging hormones drop dramatically). If you haven’t learned how to press the pause button, you may do or say something you will regret later.

We all have patterns of being triggered. There’s that favourite person who, when they show up, call or email, your body is already in full flight, fight or freeze response. Before you even know the content of the message or the reason for the call. When you default to your triggered response, you perpetuate the situation and you can make it worse because a cycle of response that feeds on itself is initiated.

And these triggers can become engrained patterns of response if they are not countered, creating deep neural pathways that evoke unconscious reactions time over time.

Becoming aware of what your triggers are, what your typical reactions are and how you usually respond gives you information and choice. The faster you can calm yourself down the faster cortisol decreases and your anti-aging and immune system hormones increase. You can develop a trigger response plan that you can activate at times when you notice you are triggered. You can create this by reflecting on what triggers you and what happens to you when you are triggered.

You can do it right now. Recall a situation or a person who triggers you. What happened during the situation you are recalling? How did you react when it happened? What bodily sensations did you experience? What thoughts were rolling through your mind? Was your “ittty-bitty-shitty committee” activated – you know, that internal voice trying to be helpful but really giving you a hard time? What emotions or feelings are you aware of? Your emotions are an important guidance system and contain a lot of useful information.

Understanding what your emotional response is telling you can be very helpful to understanding your experiences. This is where the six dimensions of Worldview Intelligence can be of service. Sometimes a trigger response is evoked because your value system is challenged, you vehemently disagree with the practices a person or organization is using or you feel like your own knowledge is invalidated, by way of examples. When you understand the underlying source of why you have been triggered you can get more quickly to options and choices for reacting or responding – including no response.

When you are triggered, what do you typically do? Withdraw? Lash out? Change the subject? How do your own actions impact your communication and/or your relationship? Is this what you want to happen or what you want to perpetuate? If not, how can you use your reflection of times you have been triggered to imagine different responses or different approaches?

The more often you reflect on and imagine alternative approaches the greater your potential to be intentional about your responses. The more you can envision what you want to achieve with the relationship and the communication the greater the likelihood of bringing Worldview Intelligence to situations that have triggered you in the past or when you have pressed the pause button on that amygdala hijack.

]]>You’re Just Too Stupid To Know …https://worldviewintelligence.com/youre-just-stupid-know/
Tue, 20 Feb 2018 05:05:41 +0000http://worldviewintelligence.com/?p=562Well, that Heineken commercial – the Worlds Apart #OpenYourWorld video – is certainly garnering attention – positive, excited, provocative, and outrage. I have to admit, the outrage part caught me by surprise. And seeing a headline that says it is worse than the Pepsi commercial, but “you’re just too stupid to know” does not feel like an invitation that welcomes me into an exploration of why

I saw the Heineken video about a week ago (have not seen the Pepsi one) and it resonated for me in relation to the work we are doing with Worldview Intelligence. The biggest challenge people seem to have is about how to have conversations with people who have very different worldviews, perspectives, or opinions than they have. The kinds of conversations that usually shut down before they even begin. The kinds of situations that have torn families and friendships apart.

I see now that there are people pointing out that some of the people in the video are more at risk than others – a point which seems valid to me. Some of the scenarios were much milder and some much riskier – climate change believer and denier paired up versus a transgender woman and a man disgusted by the very idea. Some think it perpetuates the very situations and scenarios it is highlighting.

What I wondered after seeing the video was: how? How did they do it? What was the invitation that was made to the people who participated? How was the scenario of the exchange set up? How did they create “safe enough” conditions for participation? They clearly went to a fair bit of work in the preparation since they had videos of each person created prior to their meeting.

If I already don’t like the video, I’m more likely to click on the stories that tell me it is dangerous, idiotic or harmful. It will confirm my perspective – confirmation bias. If I like the video, telling me “I’m too stupid to know …” makes me feel judged and does not make me interested in reading the post – which maybe I should be reading in order to expand my worldview.

For me, watching the video made me more curious about how to create environments where people who see and experience the world very differently can meet each other in exploratory spaces – something greatly needed and desired right now by many we encounter in our work. How to do it well in increasingly challenging situations – well, that is the question and the exploration at the center of much of the work of Worldview Intelligence.

]]>There Are No Simple Solutions to Complexityhttps://worldviewintelligence.com/no-simple-solutions-complexity/
Tue, 20 Feb 2018 05:03:15 +0000http://worldviewintelligence.com/?p=556We want it to be simple. We groan under the weight of the increasing complexity we are experiencing – at work, in life, in our communities and in political environments. We bemoan the fact there are no silver bullets even while we continue to search for them. Not only do silver bullets or simple solutions

]]>We want it to be simple. We groan under the weight of the increasing complexity we are experiencing – at work, in life, in our communities and in political environments. We bemoan the fact there are no silver bullets even while we continue to search for them.

Not only do silver bullets or simple solutions to complex issues not exist, but when we try to apply any we have come up with, they do not work. We end up in a situation where fixes fail or backfire loops emerge. Fixes that fail is when the solution we apply backfires and the problem or issue still exists either in its original form or worse. Unintended consequences spin off increasing the complexity of the circumstances we have been attempting to address.

Examples of unintended consequences abound but one example from our Worldview Intelligence work is with a health care client we work with in the US. The client piloted a new approach to patient care in six of its more than two hundred clinics across three states. Including one of these clinics in the pilot put its relationship with two other nearby clinics in jeopardy – a relationship they had invested years in building to create a common patient experience – because the one clinic was now operating differently.

So, if simple solutions do not exist, how do we find our way forward? One way is to illuminate the complexity, the relationships and the underlying patterns. Working with a Nova Scotia client recently that has a strong reputation Nationally and Internationally for the work they do, where they work in numerous coalitions and collaborative relationships to accomplish their mandate, they were invited to map their system and relationships.

Mapping shows the messiness and the complexity of the system. It illuminates what people try to hold in their heads, resulting in less stress and greater capacity to address issues and plan.

The map showed the dynamic complexity of their work. A surprising outcome to them was that in making the complexity visible, it reduced the sense of overwhelm and stress many of the staff felt, untangling the complexity and offering clear ways forward in their work planning, including identifying meetings, who needs to be involved in which conversations to which degree.

Worldview Intelligence explorations do not necessarily reduce the complexity, but by illuminating it, shows ways to address it and then change the outcomes.

]]>Why Won’t You Just Meet Me Halfway?https://worldviewintelligence.com/wont-just-meet-halfway/
Tue, 20 Feb 2018 05:01:12 +0000http://worldviewintelligence.com/?p=553Have you heard yourself ask this question, usually in frustration: Why won’t they just meet me halfway?! This often gets said when we are in a disagreement or a conflict with someone or another group and we want to make progress on an issue or mend a relationship. But, what do we really mean when

]]>Have you heard yourself ask this question, usually in frustration: Why won’t they just meet me halfway?! This often gets said when we are in a disagreement or a conflict with someone or another group and we want to make progress on an issue or mend a relationship. But, what do we really mean when we ask the question?

First of all, what is halfway? How do you know? If you imagine a road with point A and point B and you start at one point and the person you wish to persuade to meet you halfway starts at the other point, it is pretty easy to discern the halfway point. However, what if there are other roads connecting points A and B? Do you know which road you are each traveling?

Another key question to ask yourself is, what do you mean by halfway? If there are more than one possible starting points or interpretations of starting points or if there are multiple pathways between the two, which is usually the case, then what is halfway?

More often than not what we mean when we say halfway is, here’s where I am, here is the road in front of me, meet me on my road. MY road. Not THE road. Not your road. Not some other road we may not yet have discovered. Meet me halfway on my road. Which means, come to me. Compromise something that may be important to you and meet me on my path.

If this trip is important, then determining starting points and the willingness to find the intersection that represents “halfway” is worth the time it takes.

What steps are you willing to take to meet the other person (or group) at some other point that may or may not be the “half way” you think you are asking? What might you need to let go of or be willing to compromise to get to this point? What curiosity are you willing to bring to your own motives and to the motives of the other person?

Worldview Intelligence offers the opportunity to discover your own starting point (or that of your organization or community) on issues that matter enough to involve other people. It invites you to imagine what the other person’s (or group’s) starting point might be and then allows you the opportunity to invite a conversation that may evoke a very different pathway than the one that is directly in front of you or the other person; a pathway that has greater potential to meet at the intersection of worldviews, where both or all views make an important contribution to solutions you may not have thought about or considered, each on your own.

]]>A Mess of Contradictions. How Do We Find Ways Forward?https://worldviewintelligence.com/mess-contradictions-find-ways-forward/
Tue, 20 Feb 2018 04:59:37 +0000http://worldviewintelligence.com/?p=550Do you believe you are not biased? Or, not very, anyway? Would it surprise you to know that each of us is born with a built in bias called “naïve realism”, where we believe we are not biased? Naïve realism makes us believe our own views are reasonable, even if they are not. It makes it easy

]]>Do you believe you are not biased? Or, not very, anyway? Would it surprise you to know that each of us is born with a built in bias called “naïve realism”, where we believe we are not biased?

Naïve realism makes us believe our own views are reasonable, even if they are not. It makes it easy to default to judgment of other people and their views — because they are “just wrong”. It is as if accepting another person’s experience or view somehow invalidates our own or makes us wrong, and we have a hard time with that. But we live in a world where multiple truths, multiple experiences, multiple views and opinions exist. Not just some of the time. All of the time. It is all real. It is all true, to one degree or another. Generally, those degrees closer to our experiences are easier to accept, those most different are harder to accept.

The idea that views can be so easily categorized as right and wrong is antithetical to finding our way out of the increasingly fragmented, polarized and often inflamed exchanges we increasingly find ourselves in or witnessing. We see people, sometimes even ourselves, resort to the most primal of instincts of defending our own views and dismissing another’s views. We have seen these exchanges descend rapidly into de-humanizing another person or group simply because of disagreeing with their views or trying to protect our own or our own sense of identity, our territory or turf. And, of course, there is also nothing simple in this.

Cognitive dissonance is that feeling of discomfort that occurs when we try to hold two contradictory thoughts, opinions or views at the same time. One view resonates with our beliefs and the other disagrees with it. When we are presented with evidence that works against our beliefs, to maintain a feeling of comfort, we reject the new evidence. What if we were able to hold that space and live into that discomfort for even a few minutes? And then a few minutes longer? Without feeling like you have to give up your own view or invalidate your own experience, could you possibly come to enough curiosity to try to understand why another person feels the way they do, why they hold the view they do, what it is in their experience that has shaped their worldview?

Our view of the world – our worldview – is shaped locally and socially – by where we are at any given time and by the people we come into contact with, from when we are born to now. Our views shift and change over time, often without our awareness of it happening. Our views of the world are supported and reinforced by the people we surround ourselves with. If we are part of a dominant culture it can be less easy, and sometimes almost impossible, to see and acknowledge the perspectives and experiences of other people.

At any given time in society, there are voices that go unheard and oppressed. While this may not surprise us, what does surprise us at times is who or what groups feel unheard and oppressed. We might expect to hear it from Native American or First Nations or African American or African Canadian populations but are surprised, for instance, to hear it from white people in the rust belt of the United States. The inability to hear it keeps it under the surface, bubbling along until something occurs to inflame it.

The current US president has tapped into themes that many people believe deeply in – so deeply that it is part of their sense of identity. When our identity is threatened, we respond as if our very life is threatened. That is one reason why there is so much defensiveness and combativeness in exchanges. And why we pick through information to hold onto that which supports our sense of identify despite so much contradictory information existing.

Underlying all of this is a sense of betrayal – many people who voted for the current president have felt betrayed for a long time by systems that have not worked for them. They were likely joined by those more recently feeling disaffected or like their voice is not being heard. Those who are now at the behest of a current administration they did not vote for feel betrayed by those who did. We dance around this betrayal because we do not know how to confront it in ways that lead to dialog and understanding, and because betrayal is a word laden with dark emotional significance. Most people can barely take themselves to the place of even being able to say the word and acknowledge their experience, let alone recover from it.

Our greatest opportunity to influence someone – or even ourselves – is before we make a decision. Once we make a decision, we go out of our way to confirm and reconfirm it, becoming more attached to it in the process. We are motivated to defend and reinforce our decision – “motivated reasoning” – because it is now part of how we see and understand ourselves. Changing our mind is tantamount to an identity crisis, so we keep looking for information that supports our point of view – “confirmation bias”. The more we do this, the more we change the circuitry of our brains, deepening particular neural pathways, making it easier and faster for cues to travel these pathways. The more attached we become to our decision, our view, the more likely we are to ignore contradictory information – obviously it can’t be true and also to fall into disbelief about how the other person or group could possibly think and act the way they do. Just notice what links you click on and what ones you don’t. Notice your reaction to contradictory information or views.

Our total disbelief that others could have a contradictory view, which we often believe is not based in fact or reality because it is not based in our facts or reality, further hinders our potential to be in productive conversation. Instead of trying to understand this different perspective or how someone came to hold it we are more likely to want to ridicule them and be angry at them. This is not compassionate or empathetic to those who hold a different perspective and being compassionate or empathetic does not mean we need to agree with them or change our own view.

It is complex and it requires us to find points of connection, to meet each other in our humanity — which is easy to say and less easy to create the circumstances and environment where we can find these points of connection especially when in the presence of very disparate points of view. If National discourses do not take us in this direction, then we, each and every one of us who remembers our basic humanity, need to sit with what we do not know, sit with the uncomfortableness that arises from our own dissonance to find ways forward. Maybe we need to go out and find the very thing or person we think we fear to find a way to build strength and opportunity from and through our differences. How else do we do this thing?

Note: In a recent Worldview Intelligence program as we explored this very topic, it was pointed out that there is a time and place for different responses and responding to an injustice occurring right in front of you might be a time for action now and conversation later. The need to create exploratory spaces does not mean there is also not a need for other courses of action. It is not one or the other but many possibilities at any given time.

]]>When We See It, It’s Obvious; Until Then, It’s a Hidden Dynamichttps://worldviewintelligence.com/see-obvious-hidden-dynamic/
Tue, 20 Feb 2018 04:58:29 +0000http://worldviewintelligence.com/?p=547When we see it, it’s obvious. Until then, it’s a hidden dynamic. Worldview Intelligence provides many different opportunities to reveal the obvious, making it possible to strategize relationships and communications in ways that move issues of common interest forward, often in new and previously un-thought-of ways. Each of the Worldview Intelligence explorations – personal, professional, team, organizational, cultural, social systems – provides a window

Each of the Worldview Intelligence explorations – personal, professional, team, organizational, cultural, social systems – provides a window into seeing more of what exists, illuminating patterns, assumptions, belief and value systems in reflective, curious and generative ways. The best way to understand this is through stories. Here we share an example from a health care client we are working with in the United States. It operates in three States with 30,000 employees and is bringing innovation to many areas of its work. One such area is in bringing a team based approach to patient care in their clinics.

In the last year, there have been six clinics in a pilot project led by a team within the organization that is providing the clinics with resources, including evidence based research, leadership development and team cohesion assessments. We were invited to bring Worldview Intelligence to build connections within and across the teams as they were brought altogether for the first time. The impact was revealing and fascinating for all involved.

Shifting the Trust/Risk Dynamics

The co-ordinating team was curious to see if and how we could build enough trust within two days for the teams to become vulnerable enough to share with each other openly and honestly. At the end of Day 1, they weren’t sure they had the answer to that question but by break time the next morning it was clear that the teams were openly sharing successes and challenges and making requests of the co-ordinating team. There was also a demonstrable shift in how members of teams sought each other out to explore new questions at the break and during lunch.

Personal Exploration

How did this happen? The first day focused on the personal worldview exploration including strategies for hosting yourself when your worldview is challenged. While on the surface it didn’t look like much had shifted at the end of the day, it laid a solid foundation for the next day’s exploration related to the social systems of each of the six clinic teams and the co-ordinating team. The personal experience provides an opportunity for people to embody the Worldview Intelligence framework as they gain insight into why they see and experience the world the way they do. The reflection and curiosity that was brought to the personal exploration carried through to subsequent explorations, opening the space for expanded observations, understanding and insights.

Social Systems Mapping

The teams were asked to map their social system and then come back and share what they discovered with the whole group. Social systems mapping is not new, but looking at the mapped systems through the Worldview Intelligence framework is. It has mappers asking different questions to reveal the hidden dynamics and to strategize how to work within and across the system.

Examples of Social Systems Maps

As the team shared their discoveries, not only were they honest and open, there were surprising collective revelations as the entire group began to see the worldview experiences of each clinic and of the whole. By the time all the presentations were complete, the atmosphere in the room had shifted from a collection of teams to a sense of belonging to something bigger and the conversations and relationships had shifted as people sought each other out to learn more.

Worldview Revelations

What were some of the revelations? In short: the impact of the community as a social system on each clinic, unintended consequences and a question about the role of the co-ordinating team.

Impact of Community on Each Clinic

First of all, each clinic is located in a different community or social system. That social system impacts who comes to the clinic, the unique challenges each clinic must address and it influences how the clinic interacts with its community. Different clinics held assumptions about their environment and how it differed from the other clinics and not all those assumptions held true. A clinic located in a larger center assumed they experienced more diversity than clinics in smaller centers. When they said this in their presentation, the members of another clinic team all smiled or chuckled so we knew something was up. When that team did their presentation they talked about the large newcomer population in their area and how that brought 56 different languages into their work, presenting different challenges depending on access to translation services, understanding of cultural traditions and more. Other influences of the communities on the various clinics included availability of staff to fill positions and outreach.

Unintended Consequences

One of the clinics, located in a larger center, had an ongoing relationship with two other clinics in that area. They had spent over seven years working on building consistency across the three clinics so patients would have a similar experience no matter where they went. Only one clinic is in the pilot project and they shared that this was putting their relationships with the other two clinics at risk because they were now changing their approach to patient care and the other clinics did not have the same context.

Role and Relevance of the Co-ordinating Team

Another revelation of note is that for each of the clinics, as they mapped their system, the co-ordinating team was either not on the map or only there in a peripheral way, whereas for the co-ordinating team the clinics were a significant part of their map. This awareness has the members of the co-ordinating team questioning why this is so and becoming curious about their relevance and role and what they might need to shift to support the clinic teams differently.

Consistent and Responsive Systems and Processes

The exploration pointed to the need for an approach, systems and processes that provide consistency across the clinics while allowing for responsiveness to each of the communities and social systems the clinics are located within. It provided key learnings for the current pilot and for what needs to be taken into account when the next round of clinics is brought on for Phase 2.

It all seems completely obvious as it is revealed but it stays hidden until a process, framework and structure is offered to illuminate the patterns and dynamics in a healthy, constructive way that builds relationships and connections for stronger outcomes. Worldview Intelligence is that approach.

]]>Different Conversations Within Existing Structures is Possible with Worldview Intelligencehttps://worldviewintelligence.com/different-conversations-within-existing-structures-possible-worldview-intelligence/
Tue, 20 Feb 2018 04:55:26 +0000http://worldviewintelligence.com/?p=544“The worldview exploration – touches on who I am,” Jaime Smith told me in a recent conversation about her experience with Worldview Intelligence during and since her participation in a program in Halifax, Nova Scotia a year ago. “For me, it is a leadership development journey and it impacts my work in community.” In the past couple of years, Jaime has

]]>“The worldview exploration – touches on who I am,” Jaime Smith told me in a recent conversation about her experience with Worldview Intelligence during and since her participation in a program in Halifax, Nova Scotia a year ago. “For me, it is a leadership development journey and it impacts my work in community.”

In the past couple of years, Jaime has stepped into a very different part of her life journey as she started her own consulting company. She is a planner and facilitator who worked as a Member of the Canadian Institute of Planners with organizations like the New Brunswick Department of Environment, the Halifax Regional Municipality, the New Brunswick Rural District Planning Commission and most recently for the Pictou County Health Authority as a community health planner.

She founded Marram Consulting in 2013 to bring her skills, talent and leadership to a variety of groups, organizations and businesses, to help them navigate challenging spaces with innovation and discovery. She has a passion for healthy communities and embraces a population health approach to community development. She is a person who can activate in community and can bring a leadership perspective from a 30,000 foot view. She told me, “Worldview has been a powerful and uplifting experience in bringing these two things together.”

“The worldview training gave me an opportunity to think more deeply about what I do – for the first time really.” Jaime is a young mother and a volunteer in addition to running her own business. She has a very busy schedule. “I didn’t have the time to think about things – like, how did I become the person I am today and how does that influence how I am in the world and what I do now?”

Jaime describes a very typical scenario of a small business owner. “I’ve gone through challenges with my work, trying to navigate my own path while working with what’s emerging but still wanting control of my destiny. My background and education is in urban planning, environmental studies and design.” Jaime acknowledges that urban planning is about working with policies and regulations and it is not straight forward or black and white. She became a practitioner in the Art of Hosting Conversations that Matter which gave her a piece of the puzzle she was seeking and left her searching for more. That’s when she came across the Worldview Intelligence program.

“The six dimensions of worldview gave me an opportunity to look at myself and my work in a different way. It is a holistic approach that invites the different pieces of you to work together. My creative side can work with the side of me that is business and planning oriented and it doesn’t have to be either or. The framework provides a tangible process that is respectful of many different points of view. I was blown away – in a reflective way. It stuck with me. It is foundational and informs so many of the other pieces.”

In Jaime’s view and experience, the academic rigour behind the Worldview Intelligence framework is a key aspect of this work. The framework builds on the study and research of Leo Apostel, a Belgium philosopher, who brought together other philosophers and scientists three decades ago to create a mechanism to bring integration to what they saw as an increasingly fragmented world. Jaime identifies this research and background as essential to the success of Worldview Intelligence. “The world still works this way, still wants the background, the theory behind the patterns, practices and methods that grounds it and makes it both explainable and justifiable to clients in business, government and community.”

Jaime shared one of her stories about impact on her work with her clients. She described one particularly difficult engagement where there was a clear need to look at a variety of perspectives but participants were challenged in doing so. Her own knowledge of worldview and the value of having many different perspectives visible and shared enabled her to find ways to invite and bring all the perspectives together to find a different way into that discussion, without ever having to use the word or specific language of worldview.

She said, “Worldview offers something people can connect to more quickly than some other processes. It provides the leadership and space to have conversations differently while connecting with existing structures to do our best work together. It doesn’t amplify divides in a community. It provides a way to connect across differences.”

When I asked her why someone should take this program, she said, “Anyone who is working with community, with change, investigating their own leadership – this will strengthen and deepen their experience. Worldview can be married with other processes, like IAP2 or Art of Hosting and produce an even better experience.”

“If more of our community and business leaders and politicians would have an opportunity to look at their own views and deepen compassion, we could really make a difference for the people we work with and for. At the end of the day, organizations and society are made up of people. Worldview is a very humanistic and person centered approach. Community health and development tells us this is how we build more effective and resilient communities.”

Jaime is coming back for another round of Worldview Intelligence which now includes a social systems component – new since she took the program a year ago. She is excited to investigate the social systems piece. “It will help me develop new questions about creating meaningful impact.”

Jaime cares deeply about Nova Scotia and noted, “This province is in a time of great change. When stakes are high, we hold onto our views tighter. Worldview Intelligence offers a way to create the space to talk about what we value and to heal trust in communities.

If you are interested in learning more, take a look at the upcoming Worldview Intelligence Program in Halifax at the end of May. We would love to see you there.

]]>Climbing the Ladder of Inference in a Nano-Secondhttps://worldviewintelligence.com/climbing-ladder-inference-nano-second/
Tue, 20 Feb 2018 04:53:07 +0000http://worldviewintelligence.com/?p=539Have you ever idly watched someone walk by and, without even realizing you’re doing it, you’ve created a whole story about them just by what you see? Jerry Nagel and I realized we were doing just that one day recently while at a stop light. A woman was walking across the street in front of the car. Silently, we

]]>Have you ever idly watched someone walk by and, without even realizing you’re doing it, you’ve created a whole story about them just by what you see? Jerry Nagel and I realized we were doing just that one day recently while at a stop light. A woman was walking across the street in front of the car. Silently, we watched her cross. Catching ourselves doing it, we looked at each other and laughed. We recognized that, in a nano-second, we had each climbed the ladder of inference without a conscious thought – taking in how she was dressed with flip flops on her feet, a tank top, tattoos on the back of her shoulders and smoking a cigarette.

The ladder of inference, which comes from systems thinking, has been brought into the work of Worldview Intelligence because it helps us understand how we reach conclusions about our experiences. What we react to is not what is right in front of us; it is our interpretation or the story we make up about the situation. We look at someone, a situation, an event and without even articulating it in words, we make up stories about what we see or experience. It is preverbal. This is what we do – as human beings – all the time.

Climbing the Ladder of Inference

Data

There is a lot of data in the world – more than we can possibly, reasonably take in. In the age of technology and internet searches we have unprecedented access to information or data – which does not equate to wisdom or knowledge – just data.

Of all the data that is available to us we must, by necessity, select data or be paralyzed with overwhelm. We are largely unaware of the criteria we use to select data. It could be that, just in glancing around a room or an environment, we are randomly selecting what comes into our awareness and what doesn’t. It could be that a question, an inquiry or a purchasing decision will help us focus on and select data pertinent to the inquiry.

As we select data, we make assumptions about that data – that it is correct, that it is informative, that it is accurate, that it serves our needs. It could be that this is true and, even if it is, it is the beginnings of the story we are making up, telling ourselves to interpret or make sense of our experiences.

Beliefs

From the assumptions we make, we draw conclusions. We decide something is good, or bad or indifferent, helpful or not, true or not. We make judgments with greater and lesser degrees of awareness. When we have drawn the same or similar conclusions over and over again on a subject, it becomes a belief. This belief may or may not be backed up by “fact”.

Fact is in quotation marks because people who are prone to thinking logically – which most of claim at some point or other – imagine that there are “true” facts. If we just pay attention to those facts, we would all reach the same conclusions. This is clearly not the case when you look at scientific research, climate change or political views to name a few contemporary contentious issues.

Many people can look at the same set of facts and interpret them radically differently, partly because our beliefs begin to influence the data we look for, partly because we shut out things that our inconsistent with our perspective and partly because so much of our response is on automatic.

When Perspectives Become Entrenched

The different interpretations of data can become entrenched perspectives or points of view that, when challenged, we choose to defend rather than open up to inquiry. The more defensive we become, the harder it is to open up or expand our point of view, to let in disconfirming data, acknowledge that other points of view may also have as much validity as our own. If we look at disconfirming data at all, it is so we can counter it with our own arguments and facts.

Conclusions to Generalizations to Actions

The conclusions we reach, supported by our beliefs, inform the action we decide to take. The same conclusions over and over again, likely reinforced by the people around us since we largely interact with people with similar worldviews or perspectives – begin to create generalizations about situations, people, perspectives. Whether we support climate change awareness initiatives or dismiss them. Support local economies or source the least expensive goods possible. Whether we become politically active or not. Whether we take certain jobs, live in certain places, send our children to certain schools or not at all, our choice of programming that we watch, whether we automatically act differently towards people of different skin colours, group affiliations, ages or neighbourhoods, whether we change our behaviour or not. The list goes on and on.

Narrowing of Worldview

All of this is great if it serves to simplify our decision making processes about routine kinds of things – decisions to get dressed in the morning before heading out, the route to work, routine shopping and more. It becomes problematic when we become aware that we are automatically ascribing characteristics, motivations or judgments about a person, group or situation without having thought it through. This becomes a self-reinforcing loop. The more we work it, the narrower our worldview or perspective becomes.

Until we stop. Until we question. Until we become curious. “Why do I see the world (this person/this group) this way?” “Why am I reacting the way I am?” “What do I really know about this person or the situation they find themselves in?” “Is there another perspective that I can look to with curiosity and compassion?”

We actively create stories to make meaning of what happens to us all the time. The story telling is influenced by our worldview and influences our worldview. Sometimes it reinforces our worldview and sometimes it updates it. An updated worldview does not mean we lose the things more important and core to us. It does mean that we create the opportunity for points of connection which can radically change the conversations we are in and create the opportunity to move forward on issues that matter to all of us.

The stories we create may or may not even be resonant with our own life experiences. We are really good at leaving out (not seeing) that which does not resonate – making it, or ourselves, an exception. Jerry and I both have tattoos that form part of our own experience. And yet, that woman crossing the street? Her tattoos caught our attention in a way that was not so resonant with our own experiences of having tattoos – maybe because of other elements we took in that comprised the whole about which we were silently telling the story.

Be Intentional – Be Aware of the Story You Tell

The next time you find yourself idly watching someone walk by, stop and notice the story that is silently forming in your mind. See what judgment or assessment you might be making about the person, group or situation. Then allow yourself to become curious about how you climbed the ladder of inference to come to those conclusions. You might be surprised by how prolific the stories are that you tell about others and about yourself.

Maybe, as we become more intentional about expanding our worldview, everyone benefits. Including us.

]]>Why Your Perception of Campaign Momentum Might Not Be Reflected in the Election Resultshttps://worldviewintelligence.com/perception-campaign-momentum-might-not-reflected-election-results/
Tue, 20 Feb 2018 04:51:59 +0000http://worldviewintelligence.com/?p=536If you want a glimpse into the impact of worldview on how we see and interact with the world, you only have to look as far as the Canadian and US election campaigns. In Canada we are in the middle of an elongated federal election campaign to conclude in October 2015 and in the US candidates are

]]>If you want a glimpse into the impact of worldview on how we see and interact with the world, you only have to look as far as the Canadian and US election campaigns. In Canada we are in the middle of an elongated federal election campaign to conclude in October 2015 and in the US candidates are campaigning to represent their party in the 2016 Presidential election. The commercial and social media coverage is pervasive and intense. Is it fair coverage? It depends on who you talk to, what you see and what gets through your filters ~ essentially your worldview.

Your worldview will influence who and what you pay attention to – including media sources, who and what you dismiss, what “facts” you gravitate towards, what information you will believe and share. It influences your political view. It makes you wonder why anyone would vote for the “other side”, the other perspective(if you are even so generous as to call it a perspective). Does, doesn’t it? Do you see your experience yet?

With the prevalence of social media that is adaptive to your worldview, it influences what shows up in your “news” feeds. As one of my friends commented recently, “There is no other time at which it is clearer that we exist in social media ‘bubbles’ than during an election. Looking at most of my Facebook feed, I could begin to imagine that the election result is a fait accompli. Then one or another of my ‘other’-leaning friends will post something from an ‘other’ -leaning page. I will read the comments, and I’m reminded that there are a lot of people out there who don’t share the opinions of me and many of my friends.”

We pay attention to information that supports our worldview. On social media, we post information and articles that support our perspective. Social media obliges and spits back out at us information that supports our worldview, burying, for the most part, those contradictory opinions. We may not even look at information that is contrary to our perspective (and for sure most of us wouldn’t post contrary information) because, clearly, it can’t be true. Or could it?

In our work on Worldview Intelligence, Jerry Nagel and I talk about how we work with information, and on talking and listening (borrowing a little from Theory U). At the surface level, it is simply about downloading. If we are talking, we share what we already know, trying to convince someone else of our own perspective. When we are listening, we listen for what we want to hear and dismiss everything else, including, often, the person we are in a discussion or argument with – dismissing their view or perspective, dismissing them, defending our own point of view, often working from judgment and preconception, sure we are right and they are wrong – about this particular thing anyway.

We want to argue based on the “facts”. So we keep searching for facts that support our position or, in this case, our political view. Someone with a different perspective will search for facts that support their position or political view. And we will each look at the other’s “facts” and interpret them in a way that supports our own argument. We end up at a stalemate – which is what we are seeing in so many of the political debates these days – not just the televised ones but the ones we may have with those of a different political stripe – a stalemate between perspectives and sides and an entrenchment in positions with very little room or opportunity for generative public discourse.

Right now, in politics and on other substantive issues, there seems to be very little appetite to go deeper with listening and talking, to bring curiosity to different perspectives or even to bring curiosity to how attached we are to our own perspectives. It may be partly fear based. We fear what we don’t understand. We fear the picture of the future we have created (or has been created for us) if “they” get into office or if certain scenarios play themselves out. We are working with entrenched perspectives and systems that seem to leave little room for real exploration.

It we only look to information that supports our perspective it is easy to become inured to the full picture, to believe that the way we see the world is the way it is. This is why your perception of campaign momentum may not be reflected in the ultimate election results and why, if you are passionate about a party or a candidate or a particular platform, you might want to be a bit vigilant in your information sources.

In the research Jerry and I have been doing on the psychology of Worldviews (Koltko-Rivera as one source), we are learning that when our worldview is threatened, when we find ourselves in a state of insecurity, we respond as if our very life is threatened. This means we become more deeply entrenched in our own perspective, have a greater need to defend how we see the world and convince someone else that it is the “right” way to see the world. We recently saw that played out in Canadian politics as a supporter of the current Prime Minister made irrational accusationsabout the reporters who were covering the story.

It will be interesting to see how the elections in both countries unfold. I personally find myself posting information that supports my worldview while at the same time viewing some of that same information with a bit of skepticism. Knowing I am tuned into information that supports my worldview and that the “facts” I gravitate towards may simply be an interpretation of the reality I want to see, I remain somewhat cautious about what the results might be once the polls have closed.